Dear Honey,
The weather today is partly cloudy. It rained yesterday, bringing much needed moisture to our little corner of the world.
I think Mom and Dad is fine, if you are comfortable with that.
I have been thinking the past couple of days about house rules.
Your bedroom, which you will have to yourself, is in the basement with Bethany. There is a bathroom that you will share with a shower. One of your jobs will be to keep your room clean and help with the bathroom and laundry for the both of you.
Everyone usually helps some with dinner, making it and cleaning it up but I'm thinking of trading days for that. I am not always the most organized person when it comes to that but I do make dinner almost every night.
If you like to cook at all, you are welcome to help and cook Thai dishes if you would like. Saturday mornings for breakfast and sometimes lunch everyone is on their own. So that is a good day to make things that you like for yourself.
As far as curfew, I'm thinking 9 pm on weekdays and weekends are flexible. We are pretty open about that but I would like to know where you are for peace of mind. Madison's bedtime is 9 so she is rested for school. That is the start of quiet time. If you are involved in school activities, sometimes they get done late and that is fine.
Russ can be a little noisy if he's watching tv but otherwise things are at least settled down by about 9. He owns his own taxi business so he stays up until about midnight to drive customers.
School here starts early for high school at 7:40 am. The school bus comes at 7:00 am and the bus stop is very close to our house. You will be expected to either ride the school bus or find your own way to school and back. It is possible to walk but it is a little over a mile. There is also a city bus that is a possibility to get you to and from school.
The other rules are pretty much respect one another and be kind. That can go a long way. If there are other things that come up, we can talk about them and work them out.
Oh yea, the computer in our house is in the kitchen. You are welcome to use it or bring a laptop to use for homework etc. We do not have a wifi connection so the only place to connect to the internet is in the kitchen. Our previous exchange student used her laptop to Skype with her parents using our internet connection. You may use your laptop in your room for homework and watching movies or whatever but the internet stays in the kitchen. We do that for safety reasons because one of our girls got in a little trouble on the internet... If you have any questions about this, let me know.
Speaking of movies, we are kind of picky about the entertainment we allow in our home. We would like to keep everything rated PG or G. That would be much appreciated.
Above all, keeping open communication and setting a few ground rules and we should be fine.
We have never been to Thailand. It looks beautiful from the pictures I've seen though. The farthest I have been from home was a cruise to Mexico.
We do not have any pets.
One thing we do as a family tradition is on Sunday afternoons, we go see Russ's mom and spend a few hours there. She lives about 30 minutes away from here on a chicken farm of all things. They have chickens that lay eggs then they sell them to the different grocery stores. It is a large farm. Anyway, we have a family dinner on Sunday nights. I think you will like her and hopefully see her as a grandma type person while you are away from home. Her name is Lorraine.
Well, that should help with some of your questions.
Have a terrific day,
Love,
Mom